Architecture Update: Powerless to save

DESPITE a long preservation campaign, Bankside power station, Southwark, by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, 1957-60, looks unlikely to be saved. The Department of National Heritage has given the owner, Nuclear Electric, immunity from listing, giving it five years to put forward proposals involving demolition.

The building has one of the best riverside sites in London but is considered inferior to Battersea power station, also designed by Scott. Lack of progress on Battersea's conversion into a theme park has not helped Bankside's cause.